Division-by-division Dodgers trade targets: AL Central

Francisco Lindor, Corey Kluber, Brad Hand

The Indians have plenty of things going for them in 2020. They’ll have a studly closer, a solid bullpen, and a core group of infielders and starting pitching. The main area where the Indians struggle is in the outfield, where one of their everyday second-half outfielders, Yasiel Puig, is probably headed elsewhere.

That makes the Dodgers a solid trade partner, as LA has plenty of depth to deal from in the outfield, from AJ Pollock to less everyday players like Matt Beaty or Chris Taylor.

No matter who the Dodgers have though, the team will certainly be targetting one or all three of the Indians stars I mention above.

Lindor makes a lot of sense for the Dodgers, as I laid out just a last week. Especially if the package headed back to Cleveland involves both infielders and outfielders. To acquire a player of Lindor’s caliber and pedigree, I feel Corey Seager would need to be the centerpiece. But outside of Seager, Taylor may be a piece of significant importance to an Indians team that needs depth.

Beyond Lindor, both Hand and Kluber would make sense as players for the Dodgers to target. Both have been connected to the Dodgers before, with Hand being a trade deadline option and Kluber being an option last offseason.

If the Dodgers had to choose between one or the other, they’d likely lean towards Hand, mostly because his prospect cost and actual monetary cost would be far lower than that of Kluber’s. Hand makes $7 million in 2020 and has a $10 million team option for 2021 before becoming an unrestricted free agent in 2022. He’d add a left-handed edge to the backend of the bullpen, giving LA an Andrew Miller type reliever around the prime of his career.

The only reason to favor Kluber would be that starting pitching is at potentially a historical premium at this point, especially after the Nationals and Astros both reached the World Series thanks to their starting rotations. Adding Kluber would give the Dodgers a big three, especially since they are likely to lose Hyun-Jin Ryu to free agency.